Principles of Geology (1830–1833)
Three volumes arguing that present-day causes, acting over vast time, explain the geological record
Science · Maths, astronomy, medicine & more
Charles Lyell
1797–1875 · Scottish (British)
Geology
Sir Charles Lyell was the Scottish geologist whose Principles of Geology (1830–33) popularised uniformitarianism: the idea that the Earth was shaped over immense time by the same slow processes still at work today. The book deeply influenced Charles Darwin, who read it on the voyage of the Beagle. Lyell also named the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene epochs and wrote on the antiquity of humankind.
How to spot them
- ▸Principles of Geology; uniformitarianism versus catastrophism
- ▸Named the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene
- ▸Mentor and friend of Darwin; arranged the 1858 Darwin–Wallace presentation with Joseph Hooker
- ▸The Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli on the frontispiece of Principles
- ▸Born at Kinnordy, Forfarshire; buried in Westminster Abbey
Key discoveries & works
Naming of the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene epochs (1833)
Divided the Tertiary by the proportion of living species among fossil shells
Elements of Geology (1838)
A more concise textbook developed from the Principles
The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man (1863)
Argued humans had existed far longer than traditionally believed
Key ideas
- Uniformitarianism (a term coined by William Whewell for Lyell's approach): the same natural laws and processes operating now have always operated, at similar intensities
- Developed and popularised James Hutton's ideas of deep time
- Deep time gave Darwin the long timescale that natural selection required
Quick-fire facts
- •Born in 1797 at Kinnordy House, Forfarshire (Angus), Scotland
- •Trained and briefly practised as a barrister before turning to geology
- •Became professor of geology at King's College London in 1831
- •Darwin took the first volume of Principles of Geology on HMS Beagle
- •With Joseph Hooker, arranged the joint reading of Darwin's and Wallace's papers at the Linnean Society in 1858
- •Knighted in 1848 and made a baronet in 1864; awarded the Copley Medal in 1858
- •Buried in Westminster Abbey
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- Oxford University Press — Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Lyell, Sir Charles, first baronet
- Charles Lyell — Principles of Geology